Mental Scars of a Battered Rose
by TheRiverRose
Summary: We all know what happened after the Parting of the Ways; Rose and the Meta-Crisis Doctor were left in another universe apart from the Doctors, and possibly our own, to live out their lives. Did they end up with a great big family? Or did their lives fall to ruin? Rated M for mature themes.


******Hallo Loves! So if you're reading my WIP at the moment (Companion Overload), you probably are wondering why I hate the Meta-Crisis, AKA John Smith. I wrote this little one-shot in a hope to open the eyes to a little back story for what I thought John turned to after being left in the alternate universe with Rose. This won't be right in line with Companion Overload, but it gives you guys an idea of what I thought went on over there. :**

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***CRASH***

The Doctor looked around the TARDIS, a startled look on his face. "Hello?" he asked looking for the person or thing that made that sound. Jack quickly straightened himself, standing up and brushing his coat off. Then he took a look around.

"Nice work you did. Oh, hey, Doc." He said and gave the startled man a smirk and a wink. "And you look _great_ if I can say so." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Dont start, Jack, married." He said, turning back to the console.

"Oh, really?" Jack said, following him to the console, sounding pretty impressed. "Is he or she hot?" He curiously asked, smirking again. The Doctor scoffed.

"_She_ is brilliant. You might know her actually," he said, turning to look at him, straightening his bow tie. "Professor River Song."

Jack looked at him surprised and then laughed, turning to the console.

"Oh yes! A very..._very_ wild thing." He said and turned to him to give him a wink. "Met her at the university and well..."

"Oi!" The Doctor growled, following Jack. "That's my wife, Harkness!" Jack just grinned at him.

"And a very lovely wife she is. Very lovely. And hot." He said matter-of-factly and then winked at the Doctor. "Don't worry, you're hot too." The Doctor gave a great laugh.

"How've you been, Jack?" He asked running over to the screen.

"You know, the usual. Standing for the good, fighting monsters, protecting the innocent, shagging dangerous but hot aliens, you know." He said and gave a casual shrug. "What about you?"

The grin fell off his face. He quickly shook his head, a fake smile plastered on his face.

"Good! Okay, Im the king of Okay! No," he muttered, looking at the console. "That's a rubbish title, forget I said anything." He gave a quick, nervous laugh.

"Wow, to think your last incarnation was a bad liar." Jack said, leaning against the console. "What happened?"

"Oi!" He said straightening up. "I wasn't that bad of a liar- ok well, maybe." He looked up at Jakc. "When did you see Rose last?"

Jack looked up and frowned in thought.

"About 4300 years ago. Why?"

The Doctor's face paled. "Canary Warf ring any bells?"

"The battle of Canary Warf? Of course, I was there." He told him. "I was one of the three people that survived." The Doctor nodded.

"When was this?" He asked, pulling out his sonic and scanning Jack; flipping it up to look at the reading. "Died- 1,469 times! Jack!" He said exsasperatedly. "You're abusing it!"

"Well, sorry but it doesn't seem to stop so..." He said, raising his brows. "And I was actually sure it would've been more times." The Doctor shook his head.

"When was the Battle of Canary Warf, Jack?" Jack frowned again, thinking about it.

"Beginning of the 21st century, shouldn't you know that?" He raised a brow at him.

"I know, there were two Battle of Canary Warf's." he smirked at Jack. "Just needed to know which one." He turned to the screen attached to the shrugged.

"Well, I can't be everywhere at once now can I?" The Doctor smiled.

"Spoilers." He muttered, his eyes scanning the screen. Jack frowned but then shrugged, walking behind the Doctor to look at the screen as well.

"What is it?"

"There's a rip in time," he muttered. He pulled out a pair of really round glasses and put them on. His eyes widened. "No, that's not possible." He murmured. Jack raised a brow at the screen.

"Well, how's it possible then?"

"It's possible because someone is holding it open!" He ran to the other side of the console. "But its not supposed to be possible, because its to a universe that's supposed to be closed. The one that Rose is in." He flicked a switch and glanced up at Jack. Jack glanced back and then back at the screen.

"Who would be able to hold open a portal between universes?" The Doctor grinned.

"The only person who did it before." He ran to a lever and held it. "Rose Tyler." He threw it down and clutched the console as the TARDIS began to shake. Jack suddenly grinned as well, laughing.

"Rose? She still didn't give up then." He said, holding on to the console as his surroundings began to shake. The TARDIS stopped shaking slowly. It came to an abrupt halt and the Doctor started to run to the door, stopping and turning on his heel.

"She doesn't know I'm married," he muttered, his eyes lingering on Jack's face. "Great Rassilion, she's going to kill me."

Jack looked back at him, not hiding how amused he was.

"They're both going to kill you." He assured him.

"Not helping." The Doctor muttered, fiddling with his bowtie. There was a banging on the door.

"Doctor!" A female voice called through the door. "Doctor, you open this door righ' now!" The Doctor's face paled.

"What do I do?!" he muttered, looking at Jack. Jack frowned at him and went to the door, opening it.

"Rose!" He called, grinning brightly, holding his arms open as an embrace. Rose ran-no fell into Jack. She squealed, hugging him tightly. The Doctor leaned awkwardly against the railing. Rose glanced at him over Jack's shoulder.

"Who's he?' She asked, pulling away from Jack. The Doctor looked at Jack pleadingly.

"Well, that's the Doctor. Poor Doctor, he's shy of women in this regeneration, serious business. He would be all over you right now." He assured her, giving the Doctor a look.

"Oi!" He said, straightening his bowtie. "I am not."

"You've changed," she muttered. Her eyes glanced down to his left hand. "And you're married," she looked back up at him. The Doctor swallowed loudly. Jack smacked his forehead as his attempt to keep this situation from getting out of hand just vanished.

"Yeah," breathed the Doctor, his voice raised an octave. The Doctor cleared his throat. "You're not," he murmured, gesturing at Rose's hands. Fear spasmed across her face.

"No, no I'm not," she said shakily, pulling the sleeves of her jacket down to cover her hands. Jack glanced from one to the other.

"I can't die and I'm over 4000 years old." He tried as a distraction meant for Rose. The Doctor looked at Jack, raising an eyebrow.

"Really?" He mouthed, pointing at Rose who was looking at the ground, still trying to pull her jacket sleeves down.

"I don't know, this is your fault." He mouthed back, shrugging.

"Rose?" The Doctor asked, putting his fingers under her chin, making her look at him. "What's wrong?" Rose shook her head, closing her eyes, allowing a tear to slide down her cheek. The Doctor's mouth set into a grim line as he looked down at her wrists, slowly sliding up a sleeve to reveal bruises all along her arms, especially heavy on her wrists. Jack walked to her as well, noticing the bruises too.

"Oh no, Rose..." He walked up to her and held her in a hug. Rose stiffened in his embrace, before collapsing into him, weeping.

"I'll be back," the Doctor muttered, running to the depths of the TARDIS. What an idiot, Jack thought and rolled his eyes, holding Rose close and gently rubbing her back as he did his best to comfort her. She sniffled, pulling back and rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry," she muttered, not meeting Jack's eyes.

"Don't be." Jack said, putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a warm smile. She smiled sadly.

"How'd it happen?" She asked him, jerking her thumb over her shoulder in the direction the Doctor had gone.

"You mean his regeneration? I'm not really sure. I saw his last incarnation in a bar the last time and he didn't say anything. But he did look very tired." She nodded, looking at the ground sadly. Rose pulled her jacket sleeves back down over her arms.

Jack put a hand to her chin and tilted it up, smiling at her. "You want to see the TARDIS again?" She nodded, smiling at him sadly. There was a crashing sound, and the pair looked around in alarm.

"Got it!" Groaned the Doctor. He picked himself up and ran towards the pair, a glowing vial in his hands. "Nanogenes!" Jack raised his brows and then chuckled slightly.

"Woah, that was ages ago." The Doctor nodded, smiling at Rose.

"Any bruises anywhere else?" He asked softly. Rose nodded, her lower lip trembling. "You don't have to do anything," he muttered, pressing the vial into her hands. "Bathroom is down that hall, fifth door on the left." He smiled at her ash she walked away. The second she was out of earshot, the Doctor cursed under his breath. "I never should have left her there!" Jack looked after Rose with a worried look.

"She'll be fine now."

"No she won't," he muttered. "When I looked into her eyes, I saw into her mind-I know she wouldn't have liked it, but I had to know how long." He ran a hand through his floppy hair. "It's been going on since I left her there."

"What has been going on?" He asked, now turning his gaze to the Doctor.

"That bastard has been taking advantage of her for too long," he muttered, his eyes meeting Jack's worried gaze. "I thought she could fix him!" He yelled, turning on the spot, his hands staying in his hair. "Instead, he broke her beyond repair!"

"You mean that meta-crisis?" He asked, now getting even more worried. The Doctor nodded grimly.

"That bastard, I should have just killed him."

"Doctor, what did he do?" He asked in an even tone. The Doctor took a shaky breath.

"That meta-crisis," he spat. "Has been abusing her and using her for a whole _year_." He took a deep breath. "It was worse tonight, he was drunk again. He hit her within inch of her life. Those bruises," he said, pointing down the hall where Rose had gone. "Are fresh! She has been abused so often that she has broken bones that are never going to heal!" He yelled kicking the TARDIS and hopping around on one foot, having stubbed his toe. Jack stared at him in disbelief for a while.

"He's dead." He finally said, reloading his old revolver and walking out of the TARDIS.

"Jack!" The Doctor yelled after him, catching his sleeve and holding him inside the TARDIS. "When you kill him, I want to be there too." His lips formed a thin line. "Where is Rose?" He murmered, turning on his heel and running to the hallway where Rose had gone. He ran down it, stopping and walking backwards having seem a door. Rose's old bedroom. He pushed the door open a crack and peered inside. Rose was lying on her old bed, sleeping peacefully. He smiled softly.

Jack sat in the console room, waiting for the Doctor to return. Five minutes turned into ten, and Jack turned away from the hallway and ran out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor ran to the main room, smiling broadly. "Alright, Jack! Lets-Damn!" The Doctor swore as he scanned the room and saw that Jack was gone. "HARKNESS!" He yelled as he ran out of the TARDIS, snapping his fingers as he left. He saw Jack a good five yards away. "JACK!" He sprinted up to him.

Jack looked behind him but just continued his way. "Stay with her!" He called back. "She needs you!"

"She's asleep and in the TARDIS." He breathed as he caught up with him. "There's no place safer." He slowed to a brisk walk. "So, what's the plan if Jackie or Pete is there?" He asked softly.

"Uh, you distract them while I empty my gun on his face." He said like it was obvious.

"Jack," the Doctor whined. "You cant just shoot him up, we need the full story." They rounded a corner and stopped, the man inquestion right infront of them-obviously drunk. "Well, maybe not."

"Sure." Jack huffed a laugh and pointed his revolver at John.

"Oh, hey Jack. How the hell did you end up here?" John asked, just raising a brow, appearently not really caring. "Wow, I usually just remember you as that ugly fat giant head in that jar. How many years until you reach that?"

"Jack," the Doctor said warningly, holding onto his arm. "Don't do anything stupid." He gave Jack a meaningful look. "What did you do to Rose?" He yelled at John, anger coursing through his veins.

"Well, what she deserves." John said and Jack turned to the Doctor, giving him an equally meaningful look that said 'I'm going to kill him even if you throw me into a black hole'.

"You committed genocide, that wasn't enough hatred for you?" The Doctor spat at John. He turned to Jack. "If you don't kill him, I will."

John laughed, spreading his arms.

"Alright then. Kill me, Jackie-boy. Do us all a favor and kill the mean Doctor." Jack just continued to glare at him, the weapon in his Doctor gave a quick humorless laugh.

"Mean is the understatement of the millenia." He released Jack's arm. "Have at it." Jack was lightly pressing against the trigger and then huffed.

"Damn, if you just didn't have that face..." John was just grinning at him. "Huh, I hope you man-up in the next few millenia or so."

"That. Is. It!" growled the Doctor, running at John and punching him straight in the face. He recoiled and hit the brick wall behind him with a sickening crunch. "Would you like to do the honors?" He asked Jack, gesturing at the unconcious form of the Meta-Crisis.

"Someone has to do it." He said and pointed the revolver at the Meta-Crisis that had the face of the man he holds such respect for. "For what he did to Rose." He nodded and finally pulled the trigger. Blood splattered everywhere, some getting on the Doctor and Jack.

"Aw, I loved this bow tie!" He said, untying it and holding it in front of him.

"Aw, what a shame. Let's get out of here before someone screams." He said and tugged at the Doctor's arm. The pair raced back to the TARDIS. The Doctor pulled out a key and pushed it into the lock. He turned it, the door popping open with a click. He held open the door.

"You know where everything is," he muttered, looking at Jack's blood splattered appearance.

"Yeah, better get this off before Rose sees it." He said and nodded, taking the fastest way to his old room. The Doctor walked in and closed the doors. He leaned against them letting out a great sigh. The worst was over, now to start the healing.


End file.
